Number of Women Corporate Executives Increase but Ratio Still Low

Fifty-five firms had at least one female executive, the first time that the number surpassed half of the top 100 companies. (image: Korea Bizwire)

SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of female executives at South Korea’s top 100 companies doubled to more than 200 from five years ago, but the increase in the ratio to the total number was still paltry, stopping at 3.2 percent, latest figures showed Monday.

An analysis by market researcher Korea CXO Institute counted 216 women in the C-suite. Members from corporate owner families and outside members of board of directors were excluded from the count.

The number marks a doubling from over-100 reached in 2013, and the first time that it exceeded 200.

However, the proportion of women executives to the total number of chief officers came to 3.2 percent, up 1 percentage point from 2016. according to the analysis.

Fifty-five firms had at least one female executive, the first time that the number surpassed half of the top 100 companies. This figure has been growing from 10 in 2004 to 21 in 2010, 30 in 2011, 37 in 2015 to 40 in 2016.

Samsung Electronics had the most number women in the executive positions with 57, accounting for 5.5 percent of the total. AmorePacific followed with 14, and Lotte Shopping and CJ Cheiljedang came next with 10 each.

In terms of ratio of women to the total number executives, AmorePacific ranked highest at 18.7 percent, counting 14 females among 75. LG Household & Health Care came next with 15.8 percent, followed by CJ Cheiljedang with 12.2 percent.

“A consensus has been built on the role and necessity of women executives for CEOs of large firms,” O Il-sun, head of the institute, said. “There was also the effect from requiring listed companies to reveal the gender of their executives in their regular market reports from 2013.”

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